TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE MAORIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 27, 26 November 1878, Page 3

TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE MAORIS.

Dr Hector, in his uciut lecture on the exploration of Otago, incidentally referred to tho tr.iui.ional history of the Maoris in thu >' outh Island. ,As his remarks wire very interesting, we append them. Ho said :*-The traditional history of the W occupation of the southern toantiy by the natives was colke'od by Mr Shortland, the protector of aborigines, aa early as 1844, but further details > have since been collected by several qualified persons, and are to be found collated in Mr A. Mackay's admirable compendium on "Native Affairs in the South Island," published in 1872. The traditions were reproduced last year in a paper by the Hey. Mr Stack, ' and he has been tli9 first to venture to fix the dates for the principal events. It appears pretty certain that the Otago county was occupied by several successive tribes of Maoris. The earliest of these> Ngatikuva, is only known bj vague traditions, but is considered to be an offshoot from the Ngapuhi tribe that still occupies the northern district of Auckland, where they first landed about twentyseven generations ago. The JNgatikura became very numerous, and . occupied the whole island, and according to Mr MantoU's notes, it ■was they who burnt off the bush and made the open grass land. (E. Wakapakihi.) They were succeeded by the Waitaha tribe, who also came from the North Island, and according to Mr Stack their migration took place in 1477, which ia the earliest date he ventures on. The Waitaha, after 100 years, were in their turn attacked, and gradually displaced by the iNgatiinanioe, but they were not exterminated until the year 1700 ; and shortly before this date a further tribe, the Ngaitahu, had commenced to displace the Ngatimanioe, which was almost exterminated by 1827, only afewhaviug families living. survived to within less than 30 years back in the dense forests of the S.W. Mountains. The Ngaitahu tribe is one that now survives in Otago, and at one time must have been very numerous ; but about 45 years ago they were greatly reduced by an epidemic of measles, which disease appears to have been as fatal them as to the natives of Fiji ■when it first broke out in that group about two years ago. The latter history of the natives in Otago is a remarkable instance of rapid disappearance of an aboriginal race when brought in contact with civilisation, notwithstanding that they are carefully provided for. In 1844 there ■were 3206 Maoris in Otago ; in 1852. 709 ;in 1861, 912 ; and in 1869, 396' but in 1874 »he census shows an increase, the number being 510. The western side of the island was inhabited by a separate tribe, having tta&«ne origin in the North Island as the Ngaitahu called the Ngatiwairengo, having their head quarters at Arahuva ; and tradition states that the first knowledge of the greenstone or ponaumu which the eastern natives acquire! was from a wmnan of that tribe who crossed the mountains to Kaiapoi. This has a most important bearing on the date \vp to which the rnoa birds survived in numbers, as greenstone implements have been j found in most of the ancient cooking heaps along with the moa bones, thus proving that tho raoa must have , been used as food by the Maori tribe that still survives.